Running
by One Twinkle in a Million
Summary: If only I hadn't found him and her, together, I wouldn't have had the two things I love most ripped away from me; literally and metamorphically. Why would he want a mutilated she-cat like me? One that can't even run? My entry for ImagineClan's contest.


It all began with that day, I suppose, or perhaps it was earlier, when he first began meeting _her. _We were just apprentices then. There was no rivalry, no fights, no talk of the so-called "grown-up stuff" like mates and kits. It was just carefree day upon carefree day, with no worries at all. We were the Four Friends, together forever like TigerClan and their stripes. Like a mother and her kits.

Of course, it was too good to be true, as I soon learned.

Whitepaw, a tom with a pelt true to his name, was my best and closest friends. And we stayed that way, I guess; but it just wasn't the same. Not with another she-cat in the mix.

I was born less feminine than other she-cats, and my tom-like name, Lightningpaw, matched my personality. I was small and lithe and ran quickly, like the wind. And on that day and the ones following, running kept me busy. Not thinking.

On that day, I woke up at dawn. Though Ravenpaw and Nightpaw were there, Whitepaw was nowhere to be seen; in the den or WindClan camp. I tracked his scent from there all the way to Twolegplace, pushing through brambles and ferns past the moor in my hurry to get to him. It didn't occur to me that he didn't want to be found. I was a hare-brain, and I probably still am. To this day I know I still would have followed him.

It was a shock to me, to see him there. With _her. _She had fluffy white fur, and Whitepaw was talking to her dreamily, like I've seen my parents speak to each other before. I bristled in an unknown fury, my claws raking the ground. It was only because of my promise that I did not attack either one of them.

* * *

_It was a nice day, for leaf-fall. The red and orange and yellow colors swirled everywhere._

_"Can't catch me," I teased as the bulkier tom-kits chased behind me._

_"Oh yeah?" asked Ravenkit, speeding up a bit._

_"Yeah!" I jumped over a log, but the other three crashed into it and got in a tangled heap of fur._

_Nightkit giggled. "We'll always be friends, right?"_

_"Mhmm." Whitekit nodded, extremely fast. "Always."_

_I lifted my __head high, regally. "From now to forever, I swear that I shall be forever friends with Whitekit, Ravenkit, and Nightkit."_

_Nightkit was the first to catch on. "And I for Lightningkit, Whitekit, and Ravenkit."_

_Whitekit and Ravenkit soon took the promise. Though it seemed that day just another childish game, the pledge followed us for the rest of our lives, and nothing could break it._

_Not even that she-cat._

* * *

"Whitepaw!" I called sharply from my spot. "What are you _doing?_"

The handsome tom jerked his head up, golden eyes alert. "What? Oh, I . . ." His voice trailed off.

"You are breaking the warrior code."

"No, I wasn't!" Whitepaw protested quickly. "Flutter was just interested in Clan life, and so we started talking and then I lost track of time and she said she wants to join the Clan, and—"

_Flutter. _I snorted in disbelief. Numerous conjunctions were Whitepaw's nervous way of claiming he wasn't guilt for something. And. And. And. But. But. But.

"Take her to camp," I said blankly, then whipped around. Ignoring the undergrowth near the Twolegplace, ignoring the painful thorns in my pelt, I ran. Not to camp. Not to anywhere. I let the wind take me where it wanted me to. I felt light and free when I ran. It was what I loved, and it could never be taken away from me, or so I thought. I took running for granted, then. Now I do not.

And so I ran and ran and ran, away from my troubles and strange new feeling. Around the WindClan boundaries, in the moor and meadows, I ran. And only when it was later in the morning did I return.

When I came back, Flutter had been accepted by Foxstar. I missed the ceremony, and I was glad.

Apparently Ravenpaw and Nightpaw took a liking to the newly named 'Flutterpaw' just like Whitepaw. It was that which leaded to the following events:

I let her have the best rabbit on the fresh-kill pile. The smile on Whitepaw's face was worth it.

She became a part of the group. Four friends, the words used for so long, were changed to Five friends. She took the pledge, but I did not add her to my list of friends.

* * *

"Then from this day on, I name you _Lightningwind!_" Foxstar announced. He rested his muzzle on my forehead, and I licked his shoulder in return.

"Whiteheart! Ravenstorm! Nightclaw! Flutterbird! Lightningwind!"

I groomed down a patch of my gray fur and looked down at the crowd. I saw pride in my kin's eyes, but it seemed everyone else cheered Flutterbird's name the loudest.

_No. You're just being paranoid._

I hoped I was.

It was dusk, and cats retreated to their spots, scattered around the WindClan camp. The new warriors and I stood vigil. I felt a storm of envy rising in me as Flutterbird rested her head on Whiteheart's shoulder, who pulled away uncomfortably. Flutterbird shivered.

"I'm cold," she meowed, like a kit out of the nursery for the first time. All four cats glared at her, and Flutterbird shrank in her pelt as she realized that she had broken the rules.

Nothing eventful happened during the hours as the sun set and rose. Once the other cats woke up and we were dismissed, I yawned, stretching. The others followed.

"Good morning!" I called out.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

Silence. Flutterbird looked up from grooming her fluffy pelt and muttered a "good morning".

Whiteheart stared at me. Was there something wrong with my pelt? I smoothed the ruffled fur and pushed the thought away. Flutterbird narrowed her eyes for probably the first time ever.

"Lightningwind!" She squeaked in a silly, girly kind of way. "Let's go hunting!"

"You're not the judge of that." Whiteheart, Ravenstorm, Nightclaw, Flutterbird and I all looked up to see Reedfur, the deputy.

"But I suppose you two could go and catch a few rabbits."

So Flutterbird and I set out. I wanted this hunt to be quick and easy, and so I followed the trail of a rabbit when Flutterbird suddenly blocked my way, standing in front of me.

"Going somewhere?" she hissed mockingly, a new side to the kittypet I had never heard or seen before.

"Oh, you know," I said, trying to keep my cool. "Hunting."

"Hmm. I wonder how well you can chase rabbits when you can't run . . ."

It all happened so quickly. Flutterbird shoved me over and put her muzzle close to my ear.

"I saw the way he looked at you this morning. He's head-over-heels in love with you, but I'm going to change that." I could barely breathe. Flutterbird had pressed a paw on my chest, her green eyes wild. The other one traced my hind leg slowly. Intuitively.

"Can you run without a leg? Well. Why don't we test it out . . ." Her breath was hot on my muzzle. "Why don't we take away the thing you love most, like you just did today with me?"

"You're crazy," I croaked feebly.

"Maybe. But you're the only one who knows that."

* * *

_"Oof!" Whitekit ran into the log again. "Why do you always win?" he asked me, twitching his nose._

_"Because I'm a she-cat," I said proudly._

_"Hmph." Nightkit finished the race in third place and jumped on me. Ravenkit followed and Whitekit leaped onto the pile. Soon we were tussling all over the grassy camp floor._

_"I wonder how hard it would be to run without a leg?" Nightkit wondered, sitting up._

_"Why don't we try it?" Whitekit asked, a twinkle in his eye._

_Somehow, I ended up having one of my legs tied to Ravenkit's with some type of stiff weed. Whitekit was wrapping another one around him and Nightkit._

_"Ready?" he asked._

_"Ready!" we shouted together._

_"One," I mewed._

_"Two."_

_"_Three!_" We raced off. I dragged heavy Ravenkit in my hurry to reach the finish line; the apprentices' den._

_Whitekit and Nightkit were working together, but Ravenkit was too slow. We came in second place._

_"Ha!" crowed Whitekit. "You lost!"_

* * *

Fear enveloped me as Flutterbird unsheathed her claws on the paw that was running over my leg.

Then pain.

Black pain. It burst from my leg like a butterfly from a cocoon. I felt woozy.

_Pain, _thumped my heart. _Pain, pain, pain._

Flutterbird grabbed my scruff none to gently. The smell of fresh blood made me dizzy, and getting dragged around made it worse.

The last thing I saw was a river of blood, flowing out from me.

All because on that day, I found Whitepaw and Flutter.

Even if I did live it would be hard. I couldn't run anymore.

My eyes suddenly opened wide at that thought. I didn't feel Flutter shoving me all the way to camp. I didn't feel the sting of the herbs as Featherlight treated my stump of a leg.

All I felt, all I knew was the numb, despairing certainty:

_I will never run again._

_Never, never, never._

_And the cat I love will never want me, not anymore._

_Never, never, never._


End file.
